New Year Greetings again..............................

Wishing all my Chinese friends and fellow collectors...............................................................  
                              
                             A  Very, Very Prosperous and Happy Chinese New Year!
                       May you get the banknotes you want at a bargain and sell with reasonable gains!!

This ang pow has a picture of a 1961 $10 'duit kerbau' banknote with a so called Chinese auspicious serial numbers. A stack of it was recently given to us by a friend, who had kept it for a long time.I wonder who printed this ang pow and whether are there any no other ang pows depicting banknotes? Anyone care to share?

Recently, I managed to acquire this serial number A/1, 1961 $10 'duit kerbau'............after selling my only A/1 AU piece to a good friend many, many 'donkey' or "kerbau" years ago for peanuts as they say..........S$35.00 YES!YES......S$35, Singapore Thirty Five dollars. This piece cost me more than 10 times of what I sold for!

Was it worth it? You tell me..................

Another very interesting point that I want to share with fellow collectors................

At the last Mavin International auction the following set was put up for bidding and the reserve price was S$75,000.00 (about RM183,750.00)

and sadly for the owner it was not sold, thereby probably costing him to pay auctioneer fees of about S$3,750.00 (may have cried lah! ...having to pay the commission for nothing)

Now the interesting part...............................roll back about 23 years to the year 1989 and this what it is all about:

An international coin & paper money auction & exposition "NUMISMEX '89" jointly organised by Merit Direct Marketing P/L and Spex P/L  held an auction at The Oriental Hotel Singapore on 31st August, and this very same set was put up for bidding with a reserve price of US$500.00 and sold for US$1,400.00 + 10% commission ( about S$3,350 or RM9,000....1989 exchange rate)............now I want to cry lah!! so cheap, cheap, cheap!! don't know how to bid!

So the moral of the story or article?

Belated Happy New Year!

            A very Belated Happy New Year, 2012 again to all my friends and collectors out there!

This year began well for me as I managed to get a rare signed banknote from an American dealer, this particular note was mentioned in my last blog article.................

and only just yesterday, an uncut piece of this banknote graded by PCGS as NEW 61,

was sold for:  

This translates to about SGD6,350.00 or about MYR15,360.00, and in the mid 1990s a better piece of this series of uncut sheet was going for about SGD800.00.

May this piece of good news bring cheer and happiness to all banknote collectors that the banknote market is alive and well despite all the depressing world current economic situtation.

A Singapore Banknote No More Legal Tender!!

You will be wondering.................what on earth am I talking about!!

Seriously, this Singapore banknote existed and was legal tender at one time but not now ..................................

Extracted from "Buried Singapore: Michigan's Imaginary Pompeii" by Kit Lane

This book was acquired via Amazon.com in the mid 1990s

The following uncut sheets and note are from my personal collection acquired from reputable US dealers from the early 1990s: A detailed write-up of this Singapore Banknote from Ken Cook.

My latest Malaya & British Borneo, Sarawak, BNBC & Brunei Banknotes

These notes are my latest buys after some time on the sideline............................


A beautiful piece with slight foxing, crisp paper, clear firm colours and sharp corners...............can you consider this as UNC?

The reverse of the note.............how? Wonder whether to send to the people at PMG to get it appraised.......



A pair of 2nd Series Brunei Five Dollars progress proofs.................lovely?

Nothing much can be mentioned about this 1940 series of BNBC banknote or for that matter banknotes issued by BNBC.  

This banknote carries the signature of BNBC's treasurer Captain William Anthony Casterton Smelt, who was in 1946 recognized for his services during internment. Beyond this fact, everything is zilt, zero, nyet, nada, kosong....... the company, the printer/engravers,etc....all gone......sad!

 

 

 

 

 

This banknote is my first that has a PMG certification, apparently it seems like there is now a local trend towards having the notes certified by an internationally recognized third party.

I suppose this will prevent most of the local "buaya"(cheaters), oops!......I mean dealers/flea market sellers from deceiving new collectors into buying 'doctored' high grade banknotes.

Once again, new collectors...............BEWARE..............most of our local dealers/flea market sellers are a bunch of "doctors"   ..............banknote doctors!

They ought to have the intials MBBS next to their name, not Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery but Make Bogus BanknoteS.

My Prized Goh Keng Swee Orchid Series Banknotes Collection

After gaining independence on 9th August 1965, the Singapore Government decided to issue her own banknotes and the Orchid series is the first amongst the Bird, Ship, I.T. and Portrait ones.

The series signed by the late Dr Goh Keng Swee was issued on 19th January 1970 and only in $1, $5, $10, $50, $100 and $1000 denominations.Only a small quantity of his signed banknotes were issued,thus making the Orchid series banknotes signed by him as the most sought after and valuable among all Singapore issued banknotes.



  An UNC foxing $1 note with Unique serial numbers.

       

Almost a consecutive pair of $1 note with a small error smudge on one of the Orchids.

Can you spot it? Refer to my earlier blog for details.

The MOST sought after and very valuable of all the Dr Goh Keng Swee signed Orchid series banknote, may even be for the overall series of banknotes issued by the Singapore Government.......................the infamous $5.00 denomination:

Can you notice that all three signatures vary in the degree of thickness............you would probably have to enlarge the picture to view. Can these be considered as minor varieties? Any "gurus" wish to comment?

An uneventful consecutive $10.00, bought in the early 1980s for slightly higher than the face value of the pair........................sob! sob! should have bought more..............

 At the last local auction, a single UNC $50 piece was sold for S$480 excluding buyer's premium and taxes.

      Consecutive serial numbers printed withYellow banknote paper or is it even foxing?

Understand that the Dr Goh Keng Swee $100 is the second most sought after.

Another BOO BOO by the authorities, catalogers, etc?............ apparently it was published that the Goh Keng Swee $1000 banknotes bears his signature(of course! this is obvious.............or you will have had an error note) and his SEAL:





I have yet to see a GKS $1000 or a picture of it with his signature and seal .................anyone in possession of such a note or comments?

Singapore Orchid Series Currency Notes ~ Lim Kim San ~

The Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore and subsequently as Monetary Authority of Singapore has issued four series of currency notes for general circulation since 1967.
The currency notes of all the four series, known as the "Orchid", "Bird", "Ship" and "Portrait" series are legal tender.

The "Orchid" series has nine denominations; $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000 and $10,000.The dominant feature is a spray of orchid in the centre of the front of each note but missing is the name of the type of Orchid.Could this mistake of missing name be a 'Boo Boo' made by the then BCCS? (see an earlier blog story of the $25 "Orchid")

This series has varieties of signatures and seals of the then Minister for Finance  and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore but not all nine denominations were issued with their signatures and seals.



The 'first' of the "Orchid" series has only six denominations and were issued with Mr Lim Kim San's signature on 12 June 1967.

The $1.00 denomination:
 

                                       Name of Orchid: Vanda Janet Kaneali
                                       Printer: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co Ltd

                                                                      Reverse of note

               Notice any thing peculiar about the picture on the reverse of the note?

       
                                                       The whole scene is missing of people, vehicles and street lamps!          Another Boo Boo?




The $5.00 denomination:

Name of Orchid: Vanda T.M.A.

Printer: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co Ltd

Reverse of note

Oh, why must the BCCS committee choose this controversal orchid to grace the $5.00 note............beats me!!

Apparently, the parent orchid has its fair share of controversy, involving allegations of mixed-up seedpods, confused parentage and faulty registration(refer http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchidtalk/cattleyas-vandas-dendrobiums-bloom/17157-vanda-tan-chay-yan-v-dearei-x-v-josephine-van-brero-2.html). Maybe that's the reason for not printing the name of the orchid on the banknote. Boo Boo again?

              The print of this note is slightly shifted towards the bottom margin of the note.

The $10.00 denomination:

                              Name of Orchid: Dendrobium Marjorie Ho "Tony Pek"
                                  Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd

Reverse of note

               Currently the island of Singapore is about this shape, almost totally different from the days of 1967.

The $50.00 denomination:

                                    Name of Orchid: Vanda Rothscildiana "Teo Choo Hong"
                                              Printer: Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd

Reverse of note

 

The $100.00 deniminaion:

                                                     Name of Orchid: Cattleya

                                         Printer: Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co Ltd